The Rupee opened weaker on Thursday, tracking gains in Asian peers after an anticipated U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut and a less-hawkish-than-feared outlook triggered a broad retreat in the dollar. A sharply divided U.S. Fed cut interest rates on Wednesday, with Chair Jerome Powell saying in a post-decision press briefing that another rate hike is unlikely. The less-hawkish-than-expected tilt in Powell's remarks pushed the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields lower, while sparking a Wall Street rally that carried over to Asian stocks. The dollar index was hovering near a two-month low of 98.58 after declining 0.6% on Wednesday, while equity futures pointed to a positive kick-off for Indian stocks as well. Traders reckon that the broadly softer dollar could offer transient relief to the rupee, which had declined to its all-time low of 90.42 last week, but has since been consolidating above that level. The medium-term outlook for the currency though continues to be strained by the paucity of dollar flows as foreign investors continue to pull out of local stocks and a missing trade deal with U.S. bogs down sentiment. The dollar fell on Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered an outlook that was not as hawkish as some had anticipated, giving investors confidence to short the currency as they bet on two more rate cuts next year. The Fed at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting lowered rates by 25 basis points as expected, but remarks from Chair Jerome Powell at his post-meeting press conference surprised some who had been positioned for a more hawkish tone. As a result, investors sold the dollar, which in turn pushed the euro above the key $1.17 level and close to a two-month high of $1.1705 in early Asia trade on Thursday. Sterling touched a 1-1/2-month peak of $1.3391, while the yen , which has recently come under pressure from still-wide interest rate differentials between Japan and the rest of the world, rose 0.25% to 155.64 per dollar. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar fell to its lowest since October 21 at 98.543. That kept bonds supported, with the two-year U.S. Treasury yield falling about 3 bps to 3.5340%. The benchmark 10-year yield was similarly down 3 bps to 4.1332%. Bond yields move inversely to prices. In other currencies, the Australian dollar retreated from a roughly three-month top hit in the previous session and was down 0.14% to $0.66665. The New Zealand dollar eased 0.07% to $0.5812. Oil rose for a second straight session on Thursday after the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, escalating tensions between the two countries and raising concern over further supply disruptions. Brent crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $62.48 a barrel by 0101 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.79 a barrel, up 33 cents, or 0.6%.......